Swiss trip Pointers

 Highlights from the trip

• If you are traveling in peak season say June-July cough up the money and get a first class Swiss travel pass
• Vegetarian food is plenty and almost all restaurants we visited had a veggie burger option and their recipes varied a lot
• In about 3 or 4 areas of Switzerland we had a "Golden India Restaurant" and not sure if they all were from same management
• Watchout for train timings while there for after 8:00PM the frequency reduces from 2 per hour to 1 per hour and sometimes the last train could be at 9:00PM or so
• If you are visiting Zermatt area specifically it is prone to extreme weathers and yes train services can get disrupted and if that happens they do run bus services and just reach the station and see your options
• IF you are in Zermatt area don't look beyond Hotel Romantica for stay, wonderful family owned place with amazing hosts and great breakfast
• The Mantra for Swiss travel was to leave hotel/apartment early and reach venue before 8:30-9;00AM to beat crowds
• Remember its Alpine and weather can change at a moments notice
• Depending on region of Switzerland, you will encounter either French or German and very little Italian and most tourist spots speak good enough English
• Lot of towns and villages take pride in being car free and some of them are only accessible by cable cars or cogwheel trains
• Don't trust Google maps for public transport and instead use the SBB app for it can give the right direction down to the last step to the hotel, won't guide you like step by step but helps a lot and more accurate than Google maps
• The number of modes of transportation the Swiss have built is mind boggling from electric buses, trams to high speed trains to gondolas to cable cars to cogwheel trains and all of them running like a well oiled machine is a feast and treat to marvels of Civil Engineering
• Every single day we accumulated at the least 15000 steps on average
• Coop, don’t know if it’s co-op or coop but they are pretty ubiquitous and they are like the HEB and Walmart hybrid. If they have a restaurant they have the best breakfast for a cheaper price
• If you really want to get a taste of Swiss I highly recommend stay in one of the off places and not the city centers like Zurich or Geneva or Interlaken
• If you are remotely interested in hiking the alps even the simple ones, I highly recommend either a hiking boots or a trail running shoes with Vibram grip sole. Yes there is a difference between with and without the Vibram grip.
• For sure the things in Swiss start late and end early specially in the remote villages and hence plan your day a bit with care
• Sorry to say, I couldn’t develop a taste for Fondue
• Swiss cows are another fun aspect for every single one has a bell around their necks and on the rainy day on top of Grindelwald a herd of them were making a music of their own
• If you are in Mt.Pilatus don’t forget their toboggan ride and if you are adventurous and in shape do their rope course. For sure it’s world class and not for the faint hearted
• Mt. Titlis is good too and does attract a lot of Indian visitors evident from the fact they served Indian food in their cafe
• Zurich hosts the Guinness record holding longest serving vegetarian restaurant Haus Hiltl, worth a visit or more and food is always great there
• Most attractions offer tickets in advance and I highly recommend checking the weather and booking your ticket in advance. Thanks to my wife Sandhya for taking care of it for us, for sure she saved quite a few hours for us.
• If there is 1 hike I recommend it will be the Mannlichen to Kline Scheidegg, beautiful hike with the mountains right in the face. Wengen in general has lots more hikes and maybe in the future we will explore. Of course walking in and around Wengen is a hike in itself.
• Make time and spend the morning for breakfast at the restaurant Piz Gloria yes the bond movie was shot there and the restaurant rotates and I assure you great food. Highly recommend their breakfast. It’s 2 step one is to buy the breakfast and next step reserve a spot too.
• Sundays everything is mostly closed, barring some museums and tourist attractions most shops are closed. 

Kashmir 1947

India and Pakistan were divided back in 1947 and the reasons that led to happen is debatable and whether Gandhi was the main reason or the end of world war 2 was the reason is a debate beyond me (at least for now, I do have some thoughts on the same). My contention here is about Kashmir.

Agreed the Maharaja of Kashmir wanted to do what ever he wanted and Pakistan also wanted a part of it or the whole of it and all the “controversy” surrounding it and how our then esteemed prime minister placed friendship over national interest at the time and how he changed his mind within a few years later and there is enough and more literature around this also.

My concern stems from the fact that the lashkars attack on J and K happened organically. 2 countries were formed on August 14/15 1947 and both countries military was still under the control of British. But by October that year, our neighbor managed to arm the “Lashkars” and send them across the border to attack Kashmir and in turn India. It all happened organically is the lie that I feel has been peddled for us.

Here is my contention, how can a newly formed country with thousands of problems to deal with organize and launch a war? The military was still under the British on both sides of the border and if that were the case, what was the governor general Mr. Batten doing? He had no intelligence and did the Pakistan side of British government went rogue? My theory they had been preparing for a few months before the whole thing and ready to pull the plug when needed, indeed going beyond the simple “the irregulars attacked”.

Nehru went to UN to resolve Kashmir, I would have taken the British to task and maybe take them to the international court for their military which was supposed to be “neutral” did take sides and was active in supporting one side over the other. Unless it was known that British wanted to do it on purpose.

All the history being taught why these simple questions are not raised by the “teachers and scholars”.

A friend of mine says history should not be changed and questioned for it would mean we are questioning our teachers and parents and some one else says History is dead. I question that statement whole heartedly and say that what history lacked when taught to us in schools is the scientific temperament and question things and not accept everything to the face value.

"I am just trying to make sense"

On our recent trip to Switzerland we went to Mt. Titlis and one of the attractions there is an observation deck which is part of a restaurant and it is 50m above the glacier and costs some extra CHF for the same. Of course it becomes free if we spend 100CHF per person. 

While we were looking at the menu at the base we saw another family asking questions to the host and the hostess was explaining it is a deck which takes you 50m above and so on. The guy or mostly the dad was asking questions like what if I just go up and get a 6$ coffee and the hostess was like "you cant make it to the deck", since we had read up we tried to explain to the dude that "its their business model and people pay for it" and the guy turned to us and said "I am just trying to make sense of the cost and trying to justify". 

At that moment, I felt like, "dude, either pay up or leave" you are not the CEO of that hotel, you may not want to pay but others are willing to and hence they have set the price. 

Yes, it did irritate me more for the family was fellow Indian. Don't know from where.